Mike Seidle ...notes from the road

I manage a couple of big LinkedIn Groups. Here are a couple of things I see people who consistently get value out of the groups do:

1. When you post a question, follow up on other people's answers.  Don't start a conversation and walk away. Many people will lurk until they see there is a conversation. If you start a conversation, then participate.
2. Avoid shameless self promotion. People don't react to it well. Instead of directly making offers, ask questions that would identify people worth talking to and engage them via follow up.
3. If you would like to get more connections with relevant people, then simply put "connection invitations welcome" and your public email address under your signature to replies.
4. Post news items. It's easy, and makes it simple to get information from your website or something of interest out to the group.
5. Don't start a new discussion if an existing one fits. Why? Because when you follow up to an existing conversation all participants in the conversation are emailed in addition to the digest that goes out to members of the group.  This means you will get more eyeballs to your post by following up on an existing discussion than by starting a new one.
6. Introduce yourself. If a group has an Introduce discussion, jump in and introduce yourself.  If not, then jump in and do an intro post.  Make sure you mention who you are, something personal about yourself (this makes the intro real) and what you do. Here's a great example.
7. Following these six tips can make a big difference in how well LinkedIn can work for you.

My LinkedIn Groups:

• Linking Indiana - For people with any kind of connection to the Hoosier State.
• Indiana IT Pros - Power networking community for IT professionals in Indiana, USA.
• Hoosier Jobs Network - LinkedIn group for job postings and positions wanted.
• Soccer Business - Power networking community for people who make a living from the beautiful game.
• KDE User and Gnome User - Groups for users of the two Linux desktops.